Best Food Documentaries on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Streaming

There are a ton of wonderful food documentaries that are streaming on Netflix and other platforms like Hulu and Amazon. What follows are on my personal “best food documentaries” list, and better yet, they’re all streaming so you can watch them immediately. As a whole, they address the various issues of healthy food, agriculture, food insecurity and big industry. I’ve listed them in no particular order:

Food, Inc. (on Amazon, Netflix and Hulu) This Academy Award-nominated movie came out in 2009 and sheds light on how corporations control our food supply. It is narrated by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and in many ways is a sister film to that book. The movie examines the corporate role in agribusiness, animal health and welfare, and the environmental impact of the meat industry. Highly recommended.

Fed Up (on Amazon and Netflix): This film, hosted by Katie Couric, takes aim at the obesity epidemic in America, and the role of corporations in promoting unhealthy foods. It discusses how corporations essentially trick the American populace into eating addictive and sugary foods and while presented as more of an extended news segment than, say Supersize Me, has essentially the same inspiring message about how important it is to eat healthy. This film is a “call-to-action, exhorting the viewer to make a change and reject corporate-created and sponsored “food”.

Fat Sick and Nearly Dead (on Joe Cross’ own site, for free Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Amazonand Hulu) This movie was really entertaining, inspiring and motivating. It features Joe Cross, 100 lbs overweight and suffering from an auto-immune disease, who decides to turn his life around for once and for all. For 60 days, he drinks only freshly squeezed juices and in doing so, gets off all his medication, loses 100 lbs and reverses his auto-immune disease. In some parts, it comes off a bit like an infomercial for juicing, but there is no doubt as to Joe’s sincerity or the success of his approach. He is definitely a proselytizer, but once you watch this film, you might become one too.

A Place at the Table (Amazon & Netflix) This movie received 90% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the review site, and for good reason. A Place at the Table analyzes the issue of food insecurity in the United States–where 1 in 4 children and 49 million people have no idea where their next meal is coming from. It approaches the issue personally, following four people who have a hard time getting food on the table and its political and socio-economic causes. Experts weigh in on the tragedy and solutions are presented. Heart-rending and eye-opening. Rated PG.

Vegucated (Hulu, Netflix and Amazon) A funny, moving film that follows three meat-loving New Yorkers as they convert to a vegan diet for six weeks. See their transformation, both physically and politically, towards meat and see their family and friends’ reactions to their lifestyle change. It also addresses the issue of animal cruelty in the meat and dairy industry, and is not wholly fixated on meat as simply a health issue. Rated PG.

That Sugar Film (on Netflix and Amazon) I watched this movie with both my boys when they were 10 and 13 years old, and it really opened their eyes to the pervasiveness of sugar, and how food corporations have manipulated our taste buds to become conditioned to the presence of sugar in so many processed foods. In particular, this movie cleverly focuses on foods that many of us consider to be healthy but are actually laden with sugar. The narrator consumes only foods that are marketed as “healthy” despite their having high sugar content, and has a medical team track their effect on his health over a 60 day period. It reminds me a lot of Super-Size Me (reviewed below) but with a focus on sugar rather than fast food. Excellent movie. NR

Forks Over Knives (on Amazon and Netflix) More dense than the other movies listed here, this movie’s intent is to educate more than anything else. So while it can at time be a bit drier than the other movies on this list, it is very educational and informative for anyone considering embarking on a vegan diet.

King Corn: (on Amazon and Netflix) This movie is a bit different than the other listed here. It features two friends who move to Iowa, convince a farmer to give them an acre of land, and proceed to grow some industrial, genetically-modified corn on the land. They purchase lots of fertilizers and pesticides, too. They analyze why corn is so prevalent in the American diet, studying corn subsidies and interviewing nutritionists and scientists on the impact of high-fructose corn syrup on our health. Fun and unusual. NR.

Super Size Me. (Amazon and Netflix) This movie is considered the grand-dad of food documentaries, and Morgan Spurlock is an extremely entertaining and believable host. Morgan, who was dating to a vegan chef (of all things!) at the time, decides to eat only fast food for a whole month, and if the fast food place inquires as to whether he’d like to “super size” the meal, by his rules he is obligated to do so. A doctor takes his blood levels and health markers at the beginning of the film, so as to compare them to levels throughout the month. In the beginning of his journey, he’s pretty excited. He thinks his fast food tastes pretty darn good, actually and he thinks this won’t be such a difficult task. But as the movie progresses, poor Morgan begins to feel the effects of his drastically unhealthy diet and doctors are shocked at the toll the “food” has taken on his body. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for documentary and spurred the creation of a whole slew of ‘do it yourself” food documentaries.

I’m ALWAYS left shocked after watching a food documentary. Shocked that I’ve been consuming garbage, toxins, gallons of sugar, way too much salt, etc. Every time I watch one, I find myself re-thinking my meal planning and snack purchasing for my kids (and myself, let’s be honest), at least for a while… so that means they are working!
Thanks for the reviews and suggestions for new food docs I haven’t heard of yet… Netflix in Canada doesn’t have as many options as Netflix in the states, but I’ll be checking them out! And, I’ve never checked out Hulu! Will do so! Great post! 🙂

Hillary

Great list! I love documentaries about food that really make you question what you’re eating, they’re so interesting. Cowspiracy is one of the best ones I have ever seen if you’ve watched that before? And also Food Choices but that’s not on Netflix. I’m definitely going to check out the ones you’ve listed that I’ve never seen before so thank you.

Hillary

(August 31, 2016 - 3:07 pm)

No! I’ve never heard of Cowspiracy!! Off to google–sounds right up my alley. Thanks for visiting.

Hi, Hillary
Thanks for sharing this list with me. I haven’t heard of most of them so I really appreciated to read them here.
All of them are important to watch and I may do that when I get more time in the future.

I think especially about Super Size Me and the man who ate fast food for a whole month. Really horrible how bad his health turned out just eating junk food for a month.
Tove

Some of those movies are so great! I especially liked supersize me and fat, sick, and nearly dead (which I just watched for the first time last week!) There are some really important messages in a lot of these, however. I run a blog on blood pressure and so many problems are caused by these high sodium and sugar foods. A lot of the meat we eat is laden with it! Thanks for a great post! I’ll have to check some of these movies out!

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My name is Hillary, and I am the founder of Eco-Friendly Girl. I live in Stuart Fl and am a wife, mom of 2, acupuncturist, animal-lover and researcher of all things supposedly natural. I believe we are here on Earth to fight the good fight and help our planet heal.